


A First Time For Everything

by RomeoandAntoinette



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, Making Out, Post-Endgame, Snowball Fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 07:16:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16970178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomeoandAntoinette/pseuds/RomeoandAntoinette
Summary: During his very short time back in Inaba, Yu and Yosuke decide to make memories in the snow and have their first snowball fight together to celebrate the holiday season. While doing so, the partners’ true feelings for each other begin to come to light. [For Secret Santa Souyo 2018]





	A First Time For Everything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lod](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lod/gifts).



> Happy holidays, lod! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season filled with lots of happiness and joy. I also hope that you enjoy this story, because it was certainly a pleasure to write. <3

“Hey, let’s go outside.”

Yu’s sudden inquiry gave Yosuke reason for pause. After all, it wasn’t every day that the infamously scholarly and borderline austere Yu Narukami interrupted one of their study sessions. The teen was notoriously cut-throat when it came to his academics, and since both he and Yosuke were third years and would have to look into submitting university applications soon, his devotion was coming in even more handy than usual.

When Yu had posed the idea that the two of them use some of his holiday break time back in Inaba to study together just like the old days, Yosuke was more disappointed than surprised. Even though Yu was definitely right in insisting that the two needed to buckle down and seize every study possibility they could, that didn’t mean that they had to study over one of their few breaks back from school.

It was also one of the few breaks that Yu was back in Inaba with the rest of the Investigation Team. Back with _him._

Yosuke had originally thought the two could spend some time hanging out at the arcade or chatting over some sugary holiday snacks at one of the trendy hotspots in Okina City.

Yet, an incoming snow drift had boxed the two indoors for the evening. Instead of just binging movies or ranking up in whatever online game Yosuke was addicted to, Yu proposed again that they study and spend their time as productively as possible.

Then, out of nowhere, he was suddenly asking to…go outside? In the middle of a snowstorm?

“Are you okay, partner?” Yosuke asked with a sideways smirk as he peered up at Yu from his open textbook.

“Hm?” Yu asked, turning to Yosuke and offering him a curious stare. “Me? I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

Yosuke’s pencil slowly fell out of his hand and onto the high-gloss pages with a soft thump.

“Oh, I dunno, maybe because you want to stop studying and go outside in the middle of a _snowstorm_?” Yosuke said, the emphasis of each would becoming slightly louder and more inquisitively pitched until he finished his question. “C’mon dude. That’s not even Yu-weird. That’s just generally weird.”

The silver-haired teen furrowed his brow. “‘Yu-weird?’ What does that mean?”

“It’s something nobody else would do, except for you,” Yosuke said, smirking as he picked up his pencil and pointed the eraser squarely at Yu’s forehead. “Like carrying cat food in case stray cats come by, or drinking smoothies made from wheat grass. Or, like going outside in the middle of a _snowstorm_.”

Yu opened his mouth to reply, but he ultimately decided to snap his jaw shut again upon realizing he had no rebuttal for Yosuke’s statements.

“Okay, those first two are fair,” he argued, crossing his arms over his chest. The act caused the material of his cream-colored sweater to tug slightly around the collar, lowering the already steep V-shaped neckline even further down his chest. Yosuke tried moderately hard to not notice, but not nearly enough to actually not notice skin how smooth his partner’s skin was or, in the year he’d been absent from Inaba, how his muscles had filled out just a little bit more to enhance his already svelte frame.

“I’m glad you agree…” Yosuke managed to say despite the lump in his throat.

“But look, it’s not that bad out right now,” Yu followed up, gesturing toward the window of Yosuke’s bedroom. Sure enough, one cursory glance outside yielded only the vision of a light snowfall. The snowflakes fell in large, powdery clumps that accumulated in soft mounds on the windowsills and on the roofs of the neighbors’ houses that were visible even from Yosuke’s seated position on his bedroom floor.

“It’s a nice view, huh?” Yu asked.

While his silver eyes focused on the gently cascading snow outside, Yosuke’s eyes lingered on Yu’s diamond-cut collar bones about half a second longer than necessary.

 _“The nice view, right…”_ Yosuke thought with a secret smile as he went back to studying for a moment.

In the long list of everything else the two had to worry about and stress over cramming into Yu’s always too-short visit, Yosuke knew that confessing his feeling would have to fall to the bottom of the priority list again.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t realized his feelings already. The lack of an epiphany wasn’t the crossroad bringing his pursuit for Yu’s affection to a halt. Rather, it was the rushed timing of all their meetings following Yu’s departure at the end of the year prior.

The time the two friends got to spend together due to Yu’s infrequent trips back home was simply too sparse for Yosuke to want to bog down their visits with heavy talks about a deeper relationship. Yu was a pretty busy guy, and Yosuke knew he had other people to see and other things to do. It simply wasn’t fair to try and keep the silver-haired leader to himself.

However, after keeping his emotions on the back-burner for so long, Yosuke was starting to get…antsy.

He’d originally realized he had a crush on his best friend the second that Yu’s train had departed from Inaba’s station and carried his partner all the way back to Tokyo. At the time, Yosuke had just stood at the platform, agape like a breathless fish as waves of realization rolled over him.

As the train vanished over the horizon, as did Yosuke’s doubt about his true feelings for his partner.

Yosuke’s brain did stupid stuff like that. Realizing his love at the last second when there wasn’t anything he could do about it was pretty much a perfect example.

Back in reality, Yosuke found his eyes wandering again to the dangerously low neckline of Yu’s sweater, and again, he silently averted his eyes without saying a word. It seemed old habits really did die hard.

“Come on,” Yu prompted again, the seriousness in his voice ebbing as he nudged Yosuke’s leg playfully with the tip of his foot. “Let’s get out and enjoy it. It’ll be fun. I think you’ve earned a break.”

The gentle touch awoke Yosuke from his daydreams.

“Gee, a break to play in the freezing snow?” Yosuke asked as he rolled his eyes at his friend’s playfully teasing. “Wow. Hold me back.”

While his tone was meant to be sarcastic, there was no fire behind the words.

“Hey, you and I have never hung out in the snow, right?” Yu asked, chuckling a bit at Yosuke’s sarcasm.

“Dude, we’ve totally hung out in the snow before,” Yosuke rebutted as he scribbled down the answer to a math equation in his cluttered notebook. “Remember the skiing trip? We spent hours on the slope. You, Teddie, Kanji and I got stuck in that shed, right behind the resort? I mean, we didn’t exactly hang out in the cold, but you know…we were still all there.”

“Not just the two of us,” Yu said, not skipping a beat.

Yosuke stopped writing and snapped his head up. He was half-convinced he’s simply imagined the reply and had to catch a glimpse of Yu’s face just to be sure. “What?”

Then, as if realizing what he’d just said, Yu added in a slightly softer voice, “I mean, I just think it might be fun to experience it together while you can, you know?”

Yosuke gave his friend’s words some thought and realized, much to his surprise, that Yu was right. Although they had known each other for the greater half of high school, he couldn’t recall any moments where just he and Yu had hung out together alone in the snow.

But…that didn’t sound right.

Yosuke began to muse how long it must have been since the last time it had snowed, and what the Investigation Team had been doing at the time. While it was true that they always had academic responsibilities alongside their mission to save humanity, there had to be moments where the infamously inseparable pair had bonded together during the snow. There was no way they’d gone a whole season without each other’s company. In fact, since they solved the case around that time, he knew for a fact they hadn’t.

If he remembered correctly, it had been early last December when Inaba was fist dusted in stark white, icy snowfall. The team had still been in formation during the last holiday season. They’d all awakened their respective Personas and were fighting their way through dungeons together, still trying to pin down Adachi as the killer that was pushing innocent people in the television. Actually, if he recalled correctly, they’d solved the case around the same time.

Then it hit him like a brick across the cheek.

The last time Yu and Yosuke had been alone in the snow together was the night Nanako died.

At least, the night they’d thought that they’d lost her. It had been a horrible, bitterly cold day in early December. The entire Investigation Team was rattled and shocked to hear the news. While Yu was mostly catatonic from shock, the others sobbed for what must have been hours. It took forever for everyone to pull their frayed nerves back together to refocus on their goal, and rightfully so.

Yu had been faced with the horrifying tempting decision to push Namatame into the television, effectively ending his life. However, he’d stopped at the last second and chosen to spare the man, much to some other party members’ chagrin, including Yosuke’s.

When they’d left the hospital, Yu had told everyone to go on ahead while he stayed behind. He promised everyone he’d be fine by himself.

Not believing him for a second, Yosuke returned to Yu’s side mere seconds after everyone else had gone home. After all, he wasn’t about to abandon his partner and leave him alone to suffer from trauma in the cold.

As expected, Yu went to Yosuke’s side and immediately began to break down. He cried and whispered apologies and curses over and over again as he leaned his head against Yosuke’s chest. At the time, Yosuke had nervously slung one of his arms across Yu’s shoulder to pull him close into a stiff hug. The last thing he wanted to do was smother Yu, but that wasn’t the only reason for his hesitation.

At the time, he was also still baffled about his friend’s mercy on Namatame and horrified by Nanako’s death mere hours before.

Yosuke remembered how the numbing cold had barely mattered to him as he stood outside the hospital and let Yu sob into his arms as snow fell from the sky.

It was the second time they’d held each other for comfort. The first time was following a cathartic outburst Yosuke had at the Samegawa riverbank, where he sobbed about all the feelings he felt for Saki…and also all the terrible, painful parts of his feelings he thought he’d never get over.

He thought the pain would never fade. He’d hid his agony for so long, he wasn’t sure he could live without feeling the ache of Saki’s death over him every day.

That is, not until he felt Yu’s arms encircle him.

Feeling his partner’s close and very real warmth against him knocked down all Yosuke’s barriers with a thunderous crash as he cried against Yu’s chest until his eyes ran out of tears. At that moment, he found purpose in bettering himself beyond relentlessly pursuing redemption through self-loathing and loneliness.

No, Yu had made him want to get better. Yu had inspired him to recover.

Yosuke was convinced that, on that day, his heart realized with that he was completely head over heels in love with Yu Narukami.

Unfortunately, his heart forgot to tell his head before it was too late.

The bittersweet memories from the perilous, roller-coaster ride of their second year crashed back into his head as he reeled his gaze up from the textbook to stare back at Yu, whose eyes had become crinkled at the edges. He appeared to be studying Yosuke and waiting anxiously for him to reply.

For once, the message he needed to hear clicked into his brain without any delay.

_“He wants to make new memories of us in the snow. Before he goes back.”_

Finally, his brain wasn’t late to the game realizing the tone of the situation. His heart still ached with regret that Yu hadn’t just told him outright what he’d wanted, but in many ways, he couldn’t blame him. It was a hard request to put into words, especially when the implications had the possibility of going beyond friendship. While Yosuke had hidden his longing for many long days and nights, he couldn’t blame Yu if he didn’t reciprocate those emotions and wanted to maintain the status quo of their friendship.

He couldn’t blame him at all, even if his heart longed for otherwise.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Yosuke asked suddenly. He pushed himself up from the table and began reached for Yu’s hand. Upon grabbing the length of his slender wrist, Yosuke hauled Yu up with a grin and pulled him to the bedroom door.

“Huh, really?” Yu asked as he shuffled behind Yosuke.

“Absolutely,” Yosuke replied with a wink. “It’ll be fun, right?”

The two exited the bedroom, leaving the textbooks and study materials behind as they padded down the stairs of Yosuke’s house to retrieve their shoes by the front door. Yu was dragged by Yosuke, blinking along the way, until his friend finished pushing his sneakers on. He then grabbed him by the crook of the elbow to escort him through the house’s living room and to the back door. Yu followed clumsily, still confused but not showing any signs of resistance at Yosuke’s sudden display of haste.

As the brown-eyed teen arrived at the back door and threw it open with unnecessary gusto, a cold blast of air rolled through the living room. Yosuke’s skin prickled with gooseflesh immediately. It was refreshing, but still a little too uncomfortable to proceed without more protection from the biting temperatures.

Yosuke reached over to the nearby coatrack and handed Yu his fitted, teal coat to offer to his friend. “You better put this on first. Gloves too.”

Yu’s silver eyes widened slightly at the gesture. Less than a second later, he nodded eagerly and accepted the jacket to slip over his arms. “Thank you, Yosuke.”

Yosuke rolled his eyes and punch his partner’s shoulder playfully. “C’mon man, you know you never need to thank me, especially for something as small as this. Besides, you’re totally right. It’s…really not that bad out.”

As Yosuke’s thin limbs were consumed by his cherry-red pullover, he cast another glance outside to watch the gentle snowfall. Thanks to the deep navy shade of the evening sky and the flickering glow of the intermittent streetlamps, the silent snowfall glowed with an unnaturally orange hue against the grayish landscape. Crescents of lamplight filtered through the sparkling hues of ice, making the sheer powder sparkle like a plane of mica.

The color reminded Yosuke of Yu’s eyes. At first glance, they looked like they were just a regular shade of stormy grey, but upon closer inspection, reflected light beautifully when anything graced his vision. Seeing the way his eyes sparkled when he saw a cute cat in a bookstore window or when he stared at the stars on cold winter nights was almost a religious experience.

“It’s actually… _really pretty_ ,” Yosuke remarked with a sigh, his frame still haunting the doorway as he watched Yu take in the peaceful sight.

Yu finished pulling on his jacket and stepped alongside the doorway to join in him the threshold. With their jackets now on, the cold zephyr that had greeted them mere moments before was much more muted and infinitely more bearable. Even Yosuke, who hated the cold, lingered in the area between his house and the back plot, held willingly captive by the sight before him.

Even with such an aesthetically pleasing display unfolding before his lightly-glossed eyes, nothing compared to when he shifted his gaze back and caught Yu staring at the same landscape, just as wide-eyed and stunned as he was.

Those same, pretty eyes stared at the snowfall with amazement. Yet, the snow paled in comparison to Yu’s attractiveness by a landslide.

“You’re right…” Yu said as he swiveled his head slowly to take in the landscape. He took a deep breath, which turned into a puffy sigh as his breath condensed as solidly as smoke in the frigid air. “This has…already been an excellent idea, Yosuke.”

Yosuke huffed loudly at his humble statement.

“Um, it was _your_ idea, dude,” Yosuke reminded him with a grin before he reluctantly refocused his eyes on the yard. “But…you are right about it being a good one.”

Yu stepped off the patio slowly ahead of Yosuke. The usual crunch of dry leaves and frosted earth that usually followed footsteps after snowfall was completely silent because of how thinly layered and pillow-soft the snow was.

“…Damn, I never thought I’d say that snow looked ‘pretty’…” Yosuke added with a dry chuckle that was only aided in pitch by the cold, parched air. “Eh, I guess there are worse things to be made fun of for, yeah?”

“I’m not going to make fun of you,” Yu added with a small snort. He turned around and offered Yosuke a gloved hand. “I agreed with you, didn’t I?”

Yosuke looked down at Yu’s extended hand. The patent, black leather of his gloves made his overturned palm and nimble fingers look even more sculpted than usual. It was a very refined aesthetic that suited him nicely.

In fact, his whole effortlessly handsome ensemble made him look like some lead from a romance film that was extending a gentlemanly hand to his significant other as a silent, dramatic request to join him in the snowfall.

Only, the scenario playing before him wasn’t a fictional movie.

While Yu looked the part of the handsome lead, Yosuke didn’t see himself as a stunning actor or model that he thought someone as attractive like his partner belonged with.

It was tempting to laugh awkwardly and just brush the gesture off like he usually did. Then, his brain kicked into overdrive.

 _“You never know when something like this will happen again,”_ his mind raced. _“He wants to spend time with you, right?”_

Yosuke stared at the outstretched hand like it was a challenge.

Then, a voice more powerful than his own mind’s radiated deep from within the core of his soul. He knew without any hesitation that the resounding sensation was from Susano-o reaching to him. The Persona’s powerful timbre that seemed to flood every neuron in his mind and every sinew of his body. The voice rushed through his brain like a powerful twister.

 _“Seize it,”_ the voice commanded confidently _. “Reach out for what you desire.”_

It was no chore to oblige. He reached out and slide his ungloved hand against Yu’s.

Using his friend for support, he stepped off the patio and into the snow. He clutched Yu’s hand as he stepped off the wooden deck and onto the snowy ground, which was slightly slicker than usual beneath his shoes thanks to icy wetness and polished stone of the walkway.

When his body tipped forward, Yu used his strength to pull Yosuke close and keep him upright before he could meet an undoubtedly cold demise.

“Careful,” Yu laughed as his hands flew to Yosuke’s shoulders to help steady his friend as he grappled to recover from the close call. While Yosuke’s legs and ankles felt perfectly fine, it was his heart that sought relief as it pounded furiously from the close contact he’d had with his partner. He’d been close enough to even smell his citrusy cologne, which carried the surprisingly fresh aroma of lime, lemon and…grapefruit? When had he started wearing that?

Whatever it was, it was nice. It was so nice that it was hard for Yosuke to move away.

“Thanks, man,” Yosuke replied with a laugh as he regained his balance. “You’re the best. That could have been bad.”

“It was no problem,” Yu said, his hands not leaving his friend’s body until he was perfectly steady again.

His touch didn’t need to linger so long, but Yosuke loved that it did.

“So, what should we do first, partner?” Yosuke asked, bouncing back from the moment by planting his hand on his hips in an over-dramatic, sweeping motion. “Pick anything! We don’t even have to stay at the house. We can go anywhere. The whole city is your oyster!”

Yu chuckled at Yosuke’s optimism. “That’s one way to put it. Hm…let me think for a moment. What should we do first?”

 _“Leave it to Yu to want to organize something like playing in the snow,”_ Yosuke thought fondly.

As Yu listed off all the things he wanted to do, he meandered away from Yosuke temporarily, as if he was lost in thought. Yosuke curiously watched as his leader walked a few paces ahead of him before kneeling onto the ground. Perplexed, Yosuke slowly began to follow Yu’s footsteps in an attempt to get closer and peer over his partner’s shoulder to see Yu making vague circular motions with his arms. He seemed to be holding something in his hands that he’d gathered from the ground. That could only mean…

Then, his vision was whited out.

A loosely packed snowball hit Yosuke square in the face. However, because of the snow’s powdery consistency, he didn’t feel a single twinge of pain. It was as if a ball of fluff had landed on his nose.

After quickly dusting the powder off, he blinked the remaining snowflakes out of his lashes and felt the cold wetness settle into droplets on his suntanned cheeks. When Yosuke readjusted his vision again, he caught sight of Yu staring back at him with a guilty smirk. The palms of his dark gloves were completely covered in stark white snow.

“How about a snowball fight, partner?” Yu posed with a cocky grin. Yosuke’s heart fluttered at the sight, but the idea of playful revenge was too tempting to not act on.

“You little...” Yosuke mumbled, biting his lip to smother a smile as he bent down into the snow. He quickly scooped the powder into a misshapen ball and hurled it in Yu’s direction. “You’ll pay for that!”

The two proceeded to have their first snowball fight.

Yosuke was certain that the neighbors had to be looking at them as if they were crazy. Two third-year students running around while laughing and throwing snowballs at each other like little kids had to be an amusing sight, after all.

Neither of them cared. They darted in circles while pounding each other with lumps of cold snow. Sometimes one would let out a yell or laugh loud enough that the sound echoed down the barren streets and reverberated over the silent rooftops, but that was nothing new for Yosuke. For Yu, on the other hand, such outright displays of mirth were less common.

For Yosuke, hearing his usually serious partner laugh loudly in delight or playfully tease him was borderline surreal, and yet, so perfect. Getting Yu to loosen up and have a fun time without forcing him to maintain his usual leader façade was a huge victory that was already much more gratifying than a humdrum study session.

During their brawl, Yu managed to land a few good hits on Yosuke, including one right on his ass. However, thanks to his speed and dexterity, Yosuke had been able to fire back aptly. At one point, he’d even managed to plant a snowball right between Yu’s eyes. The act let to him laughing louder than Yosuke had ever heard before. The sound was as clear and distinct as a bell, but was also unique in that it radiated passion Yosuke rarely heard his partner express outside their most dire victories on the battlefield.

After the two exhausted themselves from cardio and were covered in a crinkled layer of paper-thin snow that had settled into the fabric of their coats and pants, they promptly collapsed on the ground. They laid opposite from each other, their chests heaving and bodies hot as the cascading snowflakes melted into their clothes and skin upon first-contact.

“Okay, that was really fun,” Yosuke panted. He rolled his head over to look at Yu’s face, which was still upside down in his vision because of his reclined position.

“Yeah…it was,” Yu gasped, smiling toward the heavens as he spoke. “Way more fun than punching each other at the riverbank. Less painful too.”

“Ah, man, lay off,” Yosuke griped loudly. “But…you are right. I’d much rather get hit by your snowballs than your fists. Your punches are brutal. Your snowballs though? Not…so much.”

“Hm?” Yu asked curiously. “Were they really that bad?”

“Dude, I felt like I was getting hit with cotton balls,” Yosuke laughed, still keyed up from their bout. “You’ve got magic hands in the kitchen, but when it comes to making snowballs, you may need some tips.”

“…Maybe next winter, you can teach me how to make them better?” Yu offered, sounding almost sheepish as puffs of condensed words drifted skyward over their head. "Then we can have a re-match."

Cold air flooded Yosuke’s lungs as he inhaled sharply. The teen rolled over, ignoring the biting sensation of cold penetrating the fabric of his t-shirt. After a few moments, he said as evenly as possible, “Does…that mean you’ll come back next winter?”

“Only if you’re still here,” Yu added. Then, more quickly, he stuttered, “Well, I’ll probably come back to see Nanako and Dojima too, of course. But…yeah. I’d like to see you as often as I can.”

“Aw, dude,” Yosuke said, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. “You’re gonna make me blush. Jeez.”

“I’m serious,” Yu said, sitting up so he could face Yosuke directly. “I’d totally come back to see you. Or, I’ll visit wherever you decide to go to school.”

“That’s a pretty big promise,” Yosuke noted with some amusement. It was interesting to see his partner act so gung-ho about something. “But I totally agree. I know our groups of friends is totally going to get broken up at some point because of school and work and stuff…but I think it would be awesome if we could meet back up and see each other every year. At least for the holidays.”

“…Unless we end up going to the same university together,” Yu posed casually. “Maybe become roommates? Then we could come back and see everyone else together.”

The idea sent a chill down Yosuke’s spine that wasn’t from the icy temperatures.

“Woah, that would be awesome.” Yosuke beamed. “Yeah, that would be great! Aw, man, now I’m even more motivated to get into a good school now. We should totally do that!”

Yu’s face glowed with subtle happiness that only his closest allies could discern from his usual, even-faced expression. Yosuke was one of those few people who could, and he noted his partner’s happiness with delight.

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but we’re doing a terrible job at studying so far,” Yu said with a laugh. “Whoops.”

The small comment hardly dampened the other teen’s enthusiasm.

“Eh, we needed a break anyway,” Yosuke said with a casual wave of his hand. “Actually, I feel totally refreshed now. I feel like I could study all night!”

A clenched fist soared into the air, as is to exemplify his newfound burst of energy. It was impossible for Yu to not chuckle at the sight.

“It’s probably just from the snow,” he noted. “There’s just something about the cold that’s really refreshing and calm, right?”

“Nah, it’s you,” Yosuke admitted. “It’s something about you, man. I don’t know what it is, but I feel so much calmer around you. Like, everything is well with the world when we’re together. Everything just clicks right into place.”

“…Yosuke?”

Yosuke looked up at the raspy sound of his name. As his gaze flicked across the glittery snow and re-landed on Yu’s eyes, he suddenly realized how close they were. After they’d both rolled onto their stomachs from their snowball fight earlier after falling to the ground in exhaustion, their faces were about one foot apart. Maybe even a few inches less.

He was close enough to see the slight furrow of confusion in his partner’s starlight-colored brow.

“I mean…yeah,” Yosuke rambled. The even edge of his teeth sank into his bottom lip. “You know…um…”

An internal battle raged inside him about trying to lasso the words back to his mouth with a clunky excuse. Just as he went to do so, he recalled the calmness of Susano-o’s voice earlier.

The powerful voice, which had come from deep within his own psyche, was a reminder to never hide his true feelings ever again.

Now, as he stared into the stunningly breathtaking eyes of his best friend, and the one person he loved more than anyone else, he couldn’t bear to be dishonest for vague for another instance.

Yu deserved to know how prized he truly was. He deserved to know that much.

“It’s true,” Yosuke insisted again, voice firmer the second time. “Honestly, I wish you were with me all the time, partner. I mean, when we’re together, I feel like I could do anything. I don’t know if you feel the same, but…I feel invincible with you. I feel _happy._ ”

“Yosuke…” Yu drawled, eyes softening as their faces drifted closer. A sheen of wetness touched his eyes that hadn’t been present before. “Wait. Do you really mean that?”

It was a weird question, but Yosuke went along with it.

“Do I mean what?” Yosuke asked carefully, not wanting to get his hopes up too soon.

“Everything you just said,” Yu shuddered, pursing his lips tensely after every word. Then, after swallowing, he asked again in a more measured voice, “Did you mean it? I…I _need_ you to be honest with me.”

The desperation in Yu’s tone hardly went unnoticed.

In response to his friend’s shaky inquiry, Yosuke nodded mutely. His head drifted forward, mirroring Yu’s action from before.

“Please, Yosuke," Yu asked, voice almost breaking. "I _need_ to hear you say it.”

This couldn’t be happening, Yosuke thought. It was too good to be true. Yet, he couldn’t risk it. He wanted it too badly to even debate turn back. Even if all that awaited him was a solid wall that would smash his hopes head-on, Yosuke had to see his emotions through to the end.

“I really mean it,” Yosuke whispered, their faces now inches apart.

God, he’d never wanted anything more in his life to pull him into a searing kiss and show him in a way words couldn’t convey just how much he loved and cherished Yu Narukami, and how his heart shattered over and over again each time they were forced apart.

He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to tell him.

“Yu, I…”

Yosuke never finished his sentence.

Their knees scraped against the plush snow as they lifted their bodies off the ground to lean into each other. Thigh muscles strained to hold both teens upright, their bodies folding together effortlessly as they molded their chests and hands together and shared their first kiss.

Their jaws slid together with a wet gasp. A moan was ripped from Yosuke’s mouth and swallowed by Yu, who used their slight two-inch height difference to his advantage in supporting Yosuke’s weight as they pressed their mouths together amidst the flurries of heavy snowfall.

The angle of the kissed mashed their noses together and made their teeth clink unnaturally. So, when Yu pulled away and leaned in at a slightly more titled degree, Yosuke followed suit and cocked his own head to eagerly fuse their mouths together again.

One of Yu’s gloved hands rushed to cradle Yosuke’s cheek, cupping it and holding his head steady and their lips rolled against each other in a series of impatient, yet passionate, kisses.

Barely able to be apart from each other, they stumbled up from the ground while they were both still wound in each other arms.

Then, when they broke apart for a brief reprieve from the smoldering kisses they'd shared. 

“...Like you,” Yosuke gasped, finally concluding his sentence from earlier. Then, more completely, he smiled a lovesick smile and said, “…Yu, I like you. I like you a lot.”

The soft curve of Yu’s lips told Yosuke everything he needed to know.

“Yeah…I was kind of thinking that might be the case,” Yu confessed with a humble nod.

The way Yu’s bangs, still disheveled from their kiss, suddenly shifted and fell over his eyes made him look unusually bashful. His mouth was still obviously raw and red from their kissing.  It was a sight that Yosuke took his time drinking in with an interrupted gaze he no longer felt awkward giving him.

“Really?” Yosuke tried to ask, but ultimately ended up sighing and he tried to catch his breath.

“Or, I was _hoping_ that would be the case,” Yu elaborated with a light laugh.

The fawn-haired teen huffed in solidarity. 

“You’re telling me,” Yosuke said, laughing again as he continued to lean into the comfort of Yu’s embrace. The other teen wasn’t about to push his partner away, especially since his feelings of affection had been returned with more enthusiasm than he could have ever hoped or prayed for.

It was their first time sharing an embrace where there was no pain. No agony. No tears.

Just pure, unbridled, honest love.

And it was _theirs._

“How long?” Yosuke asked softly.

“Hm?”

“How long have you liked me back?” he asked again, his curiosity burning.

“…I’ve liked you since I got on that train and left Inaba,” he confessed in a tone that was almost mournful. Sadness touched his gaze as he reached up to push some snowflakes out of Yosuke’s bangs. At the same time, he pushed the slightly dampened locks out of his partner’s eyes so he could glimpse his whole face without any hindrance. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“Hey, don’t apologize!” Yosuke piped up, raising his voice above a whisper for the first time in quite a few moments. His tone punctuated the thick, nighttime silence that covered them as thickly as a quilt.

The two exchanged a guilty chuckle before Yosuke continued in a soft voice.

“I mean, I realized I liked you as soon as the stupid train left the station,” Yosuke admitted. His eyes drifted away from Yu’s face, avoiding eye contact as he rambled about his bygone days of awkwardness. “I could have called or done something…so, no, don’t apologize. I could have told you sooner too, but…I just…”

To Yosuke’s surprise, Yu actually laughed at the admission before directing Yosuke’s face back to his own. There, Yu’s thumb stroked the high-point of his cheek, skimming over his warm complexion and light smattering of freckles.

“No kidding,” Yu husked, his voice deep as he leaned closer. “That’s…perfectly ironic. It seems we share even more ideas than I thought.”

Yosuke’s gaze went dark from passion as their faces realigned for another kiss. “Mm-hmm. It wouldn’t be the first time…that we...”

Both leaned in simultaneously and kissed again, still trying to satiate hunger for each other that had been unfulfilled since Yu’s last departure to Tokyo. The two were literally starved for each other and, as they ground their jaws together in abandon, they still couldn’t get enough of each other.

When they broke apart, this time, Yosuke shivered visibly. “Yu…I’m still a little nervous.”

“That’s okay,” Yu reassured with his own breathless gasp. “Me too.”

“Oh, not about you!” Yosuke reassured, suddenly sounding panicked about possibly offending Yu with his sudden bout of insecurity. “I mean it. I know how I feel, but…what is _this_?”

“...What do you want it to be?” Yu asked.

“I think…I want to be with you,” Yosuke faltered, his words falling from his mouth like heavy stones. “But…how are we going to make _this_ work while you’re in Tokyo?”

A silence stretched between them. While Yu tried to pick his brain for an answer that he knew he couldn’t supply, he felt the grip of Yosuke’s tightening fingers even through the material of his thick coat.

“I’ve never…been someone’s boyfriend,” Yosuke acknowledged timidly. As if Yu didn’t know that already.

“Neither have I,” Yu said comfortingly.

Yosuke showed his appreciation for the sentiment by softly rubbing the top of his nose. He then continued, “I guess there’s a first time for everything, huh?”

Yu nodded softly, continuing to hold his partner close while they spoke. They remained huddled together under the warm, hazily diffused light streaming down from the streetlamp that lingered overhead.

Yosuke continued slowly, “I’m just nervous. I’ve wanted... _this_ for so long, and I really, really like you. You deserve the best, and that’s what I want you to have.”

That was something Yu could confidently answer.

“I already have the best,” he insisted, his voice as deep and vehement as ever. His hand went to the back of Yosuke’s neck, pressing there until he’s closed the distance between them, just enough so their foreheads could gently bump together. “With you, Yosuke.”

Yosuke sighed warmly. The tenseness in his grip began to ebb slightly.

Instead of trying to initiate another complicated discussion while standing in the snow, Yu’s hands drifted up to cup Yosuke’s flushed cheeks. Thankfully, the cold layer of snow that had caked his gloves from their snowball fight before had long since melted away.

 “Hey, no matter what, we’re still partners,” Yu offered with a tiny shrug. “It might be hard, and it’s going to take time to figure everything out, but no matter what, we’ll do it as a team. Just like everything else. That will never change.”

Then, just like Yosuke had mentioned before, everything suddenly seemed to click into place.

“…You’re right,” Yosuke realized. It seemed the effectiveness of Yu’s logic wasn’t only confined to the battlefield. “Damn, how do you do that?”

“Do what?” Yu asked.

“How do you make even the harder things make total sense with just a few words?” Yosuke asked as he leaned his forehead, hot and still slightly dizzy, against the expanse on Yu’s shoulder.

“It’s just common sense,” Yu remarked, eyes still twinkling from elation.

Yosuke rolled his eyes at Yu's needlessly polite response, which were as orange as firelight against the snow-covered cityscape behind them. “Sure. Let's go with that.”

In response, Yu shifted his free arm to wind it snugly around Yosuke’s waist. Settled together like two dancers in a ballroom, Yu began to guide them in a light sway beneath the streetlights as the snowfall continued to coat them in a gently cascading layer of white. The snowflakes had become so condensed that they cast round, dark shadows that spotted the ground to create a kaleidoscope of patterns beneath their feet.

Yosuke lifted his head from Yu’s shoulder for a moment. “What are you…”

“How about a dance in the snow?” Yu asked, his footsteps light as a ballet dancer and he guided them through the snow. “There’s a first time for everything, right? We’ve already had a lot of firsts tonight. Have you ever danced with anyone in the snow before?”

Yosuke tried and failed to suppress an astonished laugh.

“Definitely not,” he huffed, smiling up at his partner doubtfully. “I don’t have a ton of hot guys lining up and asking me to dance with them on snowy nights. It would be another first for me.”

“Me too,” Yu said softly before commencing with a soft side-stepping motion. “…Honestly, this was the thing I really wanted to do with you, but I was too nervous to ask since we weren’t…well, you know.”

Yosuke nodded and sank his head against Yu’s shoulder. “Oh, yeah. I know all too well.”

They turned again in another slow circle, allowing the lamplight to illuminate their snow-covered bodies.

“I don’t know, though,” Yosuke replied, wrinkling his nose a bit at Yu’s suaveness. “With you, I think I’d be okay with dancing all night, but then we’d totally miss out on studying.”

“Fine by me,” Yu said. This time, he punctuated his sentence with a playful wink to show that his normal confidence had returned following their tumultuous confession. “Like you said, I think we’ve earned a break.”

“Really?” Yosuke challenged with an obvious edge of lilt in his voice.

“Really,” he replied as he dipped his head to rest his chin on Yosuke’s shoulder. “Besides, this more important.”

Not having any desire to break away, Yosuke followed his partner’s swaying movements into a delicate dance that sent the pair slowly spiraling across the yard in an uneven spiral that most likely looked ridiculous to everyone else, except them.

“Happy holidays, _partner,_ ” Yu whispered, pressing his lips against his boyfriend’s beautifully flushed cheek before leading them in another sway across the snow-covered sidewalk.

Laughing all the way, Yosuke went with Yu willing as they continued to dance in lopsided in circles through the snow.

“Happy holidays, _Yu._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This was a longer story compared to some of the other works I've published, but I sincerely hope it was enjoyable. If you're reading this, I hope that wherever you are this holiday season is warm, safe and lovely. 
> 
> lod, thank you so much for your wonderful prompt suggestions as well! Your works are absolutely amazing to read and, from one writer to another, I sincerely hope I did your prompts justice. It was an honor to be your Secret Santa. ;)
> 
> Happy holidays! I'm sending you all lots of love. Bye for now!


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